How to fix stuttering & lag in Gray Zone Warfare

While playing Gray Zone Warfare you could experience stuttering and framerate drops. Here’s how to fix stuttering issues in GZW.

Gray Zone Warfare is a surprisingly realistic tactical shooter, and performance issues can be painful to deal with, especially if they happen during a gunfight.

Here’s how to fix stuttering issues in Gray Zone Warfare, including performance optimization, fixes for freezing, and more.

Gray Zone Warfare: How to fix stuttering issues

To fix stuttering in Gray Zone Warfare, players can alter settings, update GPU drivers, and ensure that their PC meets the recommended specs to run the game.

The devs had this to say when it comes to stuttering in GZW: “Frame rate stuttering may occur during initial gameplay, including short frame lags when visiting some locations for the first time. In rare cases, those using weaker GPUs may experience longer stutters.”

Since GZW utilizes the powerful Unreal 5 engine, you might need to try various methods before you can fix it. So here are the best options you can use to improve performance in Gray Zone Warfare.

Check Gray Zone Warfare PC requirements

If you are experiencing stuttering in Gray Zone Warfare, check if your current hardware is on par with the recommended specs to run Gray Zone Warfare.

If you have enough power to run the game but the problem persists, you can try the following fixes to solve stuttering issues in Gray Zone Warfare.

Update GPU drivers to fix GZW stuttering

Sometimes, outdated drivers can cause stuttering issues related to processing and compatibility, and in Gray Zone Warfare, this is no exception. Here’s how to check for outdated drivers.

For NVIDIA Users:

1. Start Nvidia GeForce Experience.
2. Log In and select Drivers.
3. Select ‘Look for Updates.’
4. Select ‘Express Install.’
5. Let the process conclude and check if the stuttering ceased.

For AMD Users:

1. Click the Start button on Windows and select Device Manager.
2. Expand the Display Adapters menu, and right-click on your AMD GPU.
3. Select Update driver.
4. Select ‘Search automatically for updated driver software.’
5. Once the process is done, try to play Gray Zone Warfare again.

Turn Gray Zone Warfare force Fullscreen mode on to fix stuttering

If your PC meets the minimum requirements to play Gray Zone Warfare, the next thing you need to do to fix stuttering is optimize the in-game settings by following these steps:

1. Run the game.
2. From the main menu select ‘Graphic’ options.
3. Scroll to Screen and select Fullscreen mode.

If the stuttering persists, try to force Fullscreen mode by following these steps:

1. Open your Steam client.
2. Go to ‘Library’ and then right-click on Gray Zone Warfare.
3. Select ‘Properties.’
4. On the ‘General’ tab, look for ‘Launch Options.’
5. Enter the launch option ‘fullscreen.’
6. This will force the game to start in fullscreen mode, allowing you to fix the stuttering caused by resolution conflicts.

Uninstall Gray Zone Warfare to fix stuttering

If none of these fixes work, you should try uninstalling the game and reinstalling it to fix any potentially corrupted data. Unreal 5 has several compatibility issues, especially with older GPUs. So, reinstalling could also help check for additional plug-ins, or day-one patches that were not properly installed with the updates.

Additional fixes for Gray Zone Warfare stuttering issues

Here are some alternative fixes for Gray Zone Warfare stuttering issues you might try if anything else fails:

Check for shader compatibility on Steam

Steam has an additional option in the ‘Download’ section to activate an automatic search for compatible plugins for shaders and rendering.

1. Open Steam.
2. Go to ‘Parameters’
3. Go to ‘Download’
4. Make sure to check the two boxes at the bottom, where it says ‘Enable Shader Pre-Caching,’ and ‘Allow background processing of Vulkan shaders.’

If your PC is compatible with Vulkan API, then this might fix the stuttering issue for good.

Disable Windows widgets & background apps

Some Windows widgets and background running apps can be incompatible with Unreal 5 processing requirements, and while playing Gray Zone Warfare this can cause stuttering and even crashes.

Try disabling every unnecessary widget and app running in the background, then check if the issues were solved.

That’s how to fix stuttering issues in Gray Zone Warfare. For more information on the game, you can also check out some of our other guides:

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